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Some ideas are inherently difficult.
Dr. Scruton suggests, then, that all one can do
is to keep style out of the way.
As now, with no authorities to consult,
When I say: ‘I love you’—as is certainly true—
what more is there I can say?
Never mind philosophers—many of the women I have spoken to over the years have hilarious tales to tell (no names, no pack drill!) of the words used by clumsy tongued suitors seeking their hand in marriage. I do not know why such declarations should so often mangle male expressions of devotion, (I am a man, as well as poet, after all), but I have a suspicion that Roger Scruton, one of the most widely respected philosophers of our time, has a better handle on it than most. His astute ‘Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey’ (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1984) sparked several lines in this poem.
